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Re: updatedb.mlocate

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On 10/04/2022 15:29, Greg Wooledge wrote:
> On Sun, Apr 10, 2022 at 06:03:13AM -0400, gene heskett wrote:
>> Thats fine, as long as the systemd stuff is disabled by finding an entry
>> in the presently logged in users ~/.config, but I do not consider that as
>> a user item. thats (updatedb) sysadmin stuff, and much of this hoohah
>> could be prevented by setting the trigger time at install time with a
>> random time between 1 and 4 AM when most users are inactive anyway. How
>> many lines of bash code would it take to do that, 3? 4? IDK but it could
>> be done...
> The mlocate package includes a /lib/systemd/system/mlocate.timer file.
> It's static content.  If the package maintainer wanted to randomize the
> contents, they would need to write code in the mlocate.postinst script
> to change the static file -- which is a really BAD idea.  A slightly
> better idea: don't include the static file at all, but include code in
> the mlocate.postinst which generates a randomized mlocate.timer file.
>
> The mlocate.postinst script is not a bash script.  It's an sh script.
> So, the "obvious" way to do it in bash (a here document with $((RANDOM%...))
> expressions in it) won't work.  They would need to call out to some
> external process (perhaps awk) to generate some random numbers, store
> those in variables, and then use the variables in the here document.
>
> They would also need to arrange for the randomized mlocate.timer file
> to be cleaned up when the package is removed, so that's even more code
> to write.
>
> Kind of a pain in the ass.
>
> Even if randomizing the times is more trouble than it's worth, I wonder
> how much support might exist for simply specifying a different static time
> for each package that currently runs at midnight.  E.g. have mlocate
> run at 00:05, have man-db run at 00:10, have logrotate run at 00:15,
> and so on.  I don't know how many different timers all run at midnight --
> just the ones that *I* happen to have.  There are probably lots more.

Systemd already supports this.

* AccuracySec=   Specify the accuracy the timer shall elapse with. [...] 
Within this time window, the expiry time shall be placed at a 
host-specific, randomized, but stable position.

* RandomizedDelaySec =    Delay the timer by a randomly selected, evenly 
distributed amount of time between 0 and the specified time value.


So, "OnCalendar=daily" together with "AccuracySec=24h" *seems* to imply 
"once per day, but at a random time during the day".

>

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updatedb.mlocate "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> - 2022-04-09 18:40 +0200
  Re: updatedb.mlocate Roberto C. Sánchez <roberto@debian.org> - 2022-04-09 18:50 +0200
    Re: updatedb.mlocate Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2022-04-09 19:00 +0200
      Re: updatedb.mlocate "sp007@caiway.net" <sp007@caiway.net> - 2022-04-09 19:30 +0200
      Re: updatedb.mlocate Brian <ad44@cityscape.co.uk> - 2022-04-09 19:40 +0200
      Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-09 20:10 +0200
    Re: updatedb.mlocate "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> - 2022-04-10 16:40 +0200
  Re: updatedb.mlocate Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> - 2022-04-09 19:30 +0200
    Re: updatedb.mlocate "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> - 2022-04-10 16:50 +0200
      Re: updatedb.mlocate David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2022-04-11 01:30 +0200
  Re: updatedb.mlocate gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2022-04-09 21:50 +0200
    Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-09 22:40 +0200
      Re: updatedb.mlocate gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2022-04-09 23:00 +0200
        Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-09 23:20 +0200
          Re: updatedb.mlocate "Roy J. Tellason, Sr." <roy@rtellason.com> - 2022-04-10 17:00 +0200
        Re: updatedb.mlocate Charles Curley <charlescurley@charlescurley.com> - 2022-04-10 05:30 +0200
          Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-10 06:00 +0200
            Re: updatedb.mlocate <tomas@tuxteam.de> - 2022-04-10 08:10 +0200
            Re: updatedb.mlocate Linux-Fan <Ma_Sys.ma@web.de> - 2022-04-10 11:40 +0200
              Re: updatedb.mlocate gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2022-04-10 12:10 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-10 16:40 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate Darac Marjal <mailinglist@darac.org.uk> - 2022-04-10 16:50 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-10 18:10 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2022-04-10 20:50 +0200
              Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-10 16:10 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate gene heskett <gheskett@shentel.net> - 2022-04-10 22:40 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate David Wright <deblis@lionunicorn.co.uk> - 2022-04-11 01:30 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate David <bouncingcats@gmail.com> - 2022-04-11 01:40 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate Greg Wooledge <greg@wooledge.org> - 2022-04-11 02:00 +0200
                Re: updatedb.mlocate David <bouncingcats@gmail.com> - 2022-04-11 02:20 +0200

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